


Reunited

by Humansunshine



Series: WLW Fic Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Abusive Parents, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Childhood Friends, F/F, Flashbacks, Non-Linear Narrative, Reunions, childhood crushes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-12 04:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20154742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Humansunshine/pseuds/Humansunshine
Summary: Clary and Izzy were best friends once upon a time, until Izzy was forced to move far away. Now they've ended up as roommates in their first semester at college.





	Reunited

**Author's Note:**

> This is another fic for the shadowhunters wlw fic bingo! This is for team blue, filling two squares: 'And They Were Roommates' and 'childhood crush reunion'.
> 
> Trigger warning for abusive parent: Maryse is snobby to the point of bigotry, and tells Izzy off when she's a kid for being friends with Clary, who is poor. Izzy mentions that she and her two brothers, Alec and Jace, have cut ties with her.

“This is your room, right here.” The RA told Clary as they stopped in the hallway. They were on the third floor, and the corridor was full of freshman moving their things into their new dorms. It was chaotic, but the excitement was infectious. Clary felt like she’d been caught up in a cyclone, but rather than panicking she was just floating in the eye of the storm, trying to take everything in before it whipped past in a whirl of activity and confusion. “Your roommate has already arrived. Her name is Isabelle Lightwood, and she’s also-”

The cyclone stopped, and Clary’s stomach dropped through the floor as she came back down to Earth with a bump. “Wait, Isabelle Lightwood?!” 

The RA checked her papers, and nodded. “Have you already met?”

Clary swallowed hard, looking at the closed door. “I’ll say.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Isabelle!” Clary screamed, “wait up!”

“It’s not my fault you’re so slow!” Izzy yelled over her shoulder, still tearing towards the park. 

Clary grumbled under her breath, pushing herself to run faster. She finally caught up with Izzy at the gate, where she was leaning on the fence catching her breath. “You had a head start, it’s not fair.”

“You had a head start last time,” Izzy reminded her, pushing the gate open. The park was empty, one of the perks of getting up early. Clary had the idea to meet up at 7am; it was light enough and warm enough to play, so why not? “What do you wanna go on first?” 

“The swings,” Clary panted, her legs feeling like jelly after the run. Izzy let her have the better swing, so Clary forgot about her loss in the race for now. 

“I’ve never been on the swings without waiting before,” Izzy said, hopping up onto it and kicking off the ground. 

Clary kicked off too, and started swinging her legs to go higher, leaning back in time with the arc of the swing. “My Mom used to be a cleaner,” Clary explained, “and I’d come play here while we worked in that big fancy house over there.” She nodded towards the tall townhouse. “She watched me from the windows.”

“That sounds like fun,” Izzy replied. “My Mom used to leave us with boring nannies when she went to work.”

“I thought only princesses had nannies,” Clary replied, looking over at Izzy. “Are you sure you’re not a princess?”

Izzy giggled. “Why do you keep asking me that?” 

“Because you’re beautiful… And rich.” 

“I’m not beautiful,” Izzy mumbled shyly, her eyes lifting to the sky so she didn’t have to look at Clary.

“Yes you are,” Clary accused, “you have hair as black as a raven, like Snow White, and long eyelashes like Sleeping Beauty, and sparkly brown eyes like Belle.” 

Izzy smiled to herself, closing her eyes as she swung higher. “Well maybe I am a princess, then,” she allowed, “but if I am, you are too.” 

“Princesses aren’t poor,” Clary reminded her, “and I’m poor.”

“Cinderella was,” Izzy pointed out, “and Ariel didn’t have money either because she was a mermaid. And you look just like Ariel.” 

Clary wrinkled her nose. “I don’t have boobs.”

“Not yet you don’t,” Izzy said wisely, “but my brother Alec is in 7th grade and the girls in his class have boobs. That’s only two years away.”

“Well, maybe I’ll look like Ariel in two years. But right now I look like Pippi Longstocking.” Clary grumbled, “no-one thinks I’m beautiful.”

Izzy stopped swinging, letting the swing slow down. “I do.”

Clary blushed. “Really?” 

“I won’t ever lie to you, Clary,” Izzy promised, reaching out her hand as Clary’s swing slowed, too. “Pinky swear.”

Clary’s finger curled around Izzy’s, and their eyes met. Both the girls smiled, and Clary wondered if Izzy felt as strange and as happy as she did.

~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m sure the two of you can figure out any differences you might have had,” the RA assured Clary, “and if you find yourselves struggling just come and knock on my door, I’ve gotten pretty good at mediation.”

Clary was hardly listening, caught up as she was in memories of the past. “Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” 

“You ready?” The RA asked, knocking on the door.

Clary didn’t have time to answer before the door was opening, and Isabelle Lightwood was revealed, looking more beautiful than ever. She seemed to recognise Clary immediately, her eyes widening and a look of what could only be described as panic flitting across her face. Her hair was tied up in a haphazard ponytail, and she wasn’t wearing any make-up other than a smudge of eyeliner and mascara, but she was just as perfect as Clary remembered her. 

“Clary!” 

“Hi,” Clary said, her cheeks burning hot. “Turns out we’re roommates.”

“We’re… Roommates?” Izzy repeated, looking to the RA for confirmation.

“I’m sensing some anxiety here,” the RA said, patting Clary’s shoulder, “give it a few minutes, and if you need to talk, I’ll be right down the hall.”

“Can I come in?” Clary asked tentatively as the RA walked off to give them some space. 

“Oh, yeah! Of course! Sorry, I just…” Izzy stepped aside, scratching at her cheek. “I’m just shocked, I didn’t expect to see you standing there.” 

“I can’t believe you moved back to New York,” Clary put her bag down on the bed that didn’t have Izzy’s suitcase on it. “Your Mom must be pissed.”

Izzy made herself busy, going back to unpacking. She was quiet for a minute at the mention of her mother, but when Clary didn’t offer anything else, she sighed. “Me and her aren’t on speaking terms right now. She cut me and Alec off a couple of years ago.” 

“She…? Fuck. That’s terrible, Iz, I’m sorry.” 

“It’s for the best,” Izzy shrugged, “you remember what she was like.” 

~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe you have a TV in your bedroom,” Clary gushed, swinging her feet a little. She and Izzy were lying on their stomachs on Izzy’s bed, watching The Parent Trap on the TV at the end of her bed. “This is so cool.” 

“I like your room better,” Izzy insisted, “the murals on the walls are so pretty. Mine is boring.”

Clary had to admit, Izzy had a point. The room was very clean, with nothing out of place. The walls were a stereotypical pale pink, and all the furniture in the room was white. Even Izzy’s bedsheets matched. The only thing that wasn’t tucked away in a closet was Clary’s ratty backpack. “I don’t know, I’d still like a TV.” Clary shrugged. 

The door had been left ajar, as per the rules of the Lightwood house, and through it the two girls heard a woman’s voice getting closer. She was talking to herself, like she was on the phone, and as the voice reached the top of the stairs Izzy gasped and leapt off the bed.

“Clary, you have to hide!” Izzy hissed, pulling Clary by her hand.

“What?” Clary laughed, “very funny, Iz.”

There was genuine panic in Izzy’s face, and Clary frowned, letting her pull her off the bed. “Get in the wardrobe!” 

Clary was still trying to cram herself into the wardrobe when she and Izzy heard the bedroom door creak open. Izzy froze, and spun around to face the door, her hands behind her back. 

“Isabelle Sophia Lightwood, what are you doing?!” 

It had to be Izzy’s Mom, Clary figured as she looked up at the severe-looking woman. She looked just like Izzy, if Izzy had all the happiness sucked out of her. Her eyes, just as dark as Izzy’s but nowhere near as kind, bore into Clary so hard that she felt herself blush. 

“Who are you?” 

“Umm… I’m Clary. I’m a friend of Izzy’s. It’s nice to meet you, Mrs Lightwood.” 

“Clary? Clary what?” Izzy’s mother insisted.

Clary looked at Izzy in confusion. Izzy’s eyes were on the ground, her face redder than Clary had ever seen it. “Ummmm… Clary Fray?” 

“Fray? I don’t recognise the name. Are you in Isabelle’s school?” 

“No… We met at the park.” Clary had never been so confused in her life. 

“Mama, I can explain…” Izzy said quietly.

“What were you doing at the park?!” Izzy’s mother barked, “you are dropped off outside the house after school!”

Clary sensed that she should stay quiet, though she had absolutely no idea what was going on. “Umm… Maybe I should go.” 

“I think that would be best,” Izzy’s mother sneered, fishing Clary’s backpack up from the ground. “And I suggest that in future you stay away from my daughter! She has better things to do than associate with…” Her lip curled, “public school children.” 

“Mama, I like Clary! She’s my friend!” Izzy piped up, “she likes me because she likes me, not because she’s snobby and rich like the other girls in school!”

“Of course she likes you,” Izzy’s mother scoffed, “she’s probably hoping that you’ll buy her things. No doubt she’d drag you into shoplifting and other vulgar past-times given half a chance!”

“I’m not a thief…” Clary mumbled, taking her backpack with an ‘oof’ when Izzy’s mother shoved it at her. “I think Izzy is nice. That’s all.”

“I thought I told you,” Izzy’s mother gritted out, turning to Clary, “to get out of my house.”

Clary swallowed hard, feeling small with the way the adult looked down her nose at her, and she felt her eyes filling with shame. She turned away and ran down the stairs, sniffing back tears.

~~~~~~~~~~

For a few minutes, the two women unpacked their respective suitcases in silence. Clary was absolutely brimming with questions, but she could sense that Izzy was embarrassed. She needed to say something to lighten the mood, something to let Izzy know that Clary hadn’t blamed her for what had happened. Before she could get a coherent sentence together, though, Izzy spoke again.

“I wondered whether you’d still be in New York,” she stated, “though I guess it was silly to think that you’d ever leave this city.”

Clary smiled slightly. “I belong here. And the art program is good here. What about you? What brought you back?” 

“The forensic biology program is one of the best in the country,” Izzy answered, tugging her hair out of the ponytail, “and I had a lot of good memories here. And it was far away from my parents.” 

“That’s understandable. “What about Alec and Jace? What are they up to these days?” 

“They both live here. Jace got a food truck with the money that was meant to pay for his college, and Alec’s in NYU too, studying business. He wants to set up a party planning business when he graduates.” Izzy explained, “we have a baby brother now too, but he’s still with Mom in Boston.” 

Clary nodded. “It sounds like everything worked out for the best for the three of you. It’s great that you’ve been able to do things your own ways.” 

“I like to think so,” Izzy smiled slightly, finally meeting Clary’s eyes. “How come you’re in dorms? I figured that you’d stay with your Mom if you were gonna go to college here.”

“Well, we still get on really well, but I just feel like I need my own space. I was kinda hoping that I could start dating properly, now that I don’t have to tell my Mom where I am all the time.” 

Izzy laughed softly. “I can’t imagine Jocelyn being all that worried about that stuff.”

“She isn’t worried, she’s just very… Interested. I can’t bring home a girl to make out without her pouncing and asking twenty questions.” 

“Oh,” Izzy’s eyebrows twitched, and Clary shrugged one shoulder.

“You can’t be that surprised.” 

Izzy giggled. “Well… I guess not.”

Clary smiled. “You were kinda the first girl that made me wonder.”

“You were my very first crush,” Izzy admitted, sitting down on the bed, “I thought about you a lot over the years. I should’ve tried harder to keep in touch.”

“No, it’s okay. I understood.” Clary assured her, coming to sit next to her. “Your Mom… You were just a kid. You couldn’t go against her. I understood that.” 

“Did you… Get the letter I left you?” Izzy asked shyly, and Clary smiled. 

“I did. In fact… It’s in one of these boxes, somewhere.”

Izzy grinned. “Really?” 

“Of course! You meant a lot to me. I thought about you all the time.” Clary told her, getting up from the bed to rummage in one of the boxes. “Wondered if you were okay, whether your Mom had stopped being so cruel. Wondered if her poison had turned you into someone I wouldn’t recognise. I’m glad that it didn’t.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Clary went to the park, as usual, one morning. She frowned when she saw that Izzy wasn’t there waiting for her; she’d never beaten Izzy here before. Izzy liked to be early. For a horrible moment, Clary wondered if Izzy had decided not to be her friend anymore. Yesterday Clary had taken Izzy’s hand when they were walking home, and Izzy’s face had gone pink. Had Clary done the wrong thing? 

As she approached the swing she noticed that there was a rock on the swing that Izzy usually sat on, a piece of paper jammed under it. Looking around to see if Izzy was around, Clary picked up the rock and turned over the paper, wandering over to the other swing and sitting down to read. 

~~~~~~~~~~

“Me too,” Izzy sighed, running her hand through her hair. “My two brothers kept me sane, there were so many times where I felt like it would be easier to just go along with what she wanted.”

“You were always strong,” Clary pointed out, “and she was weak enough to be freaked out by a little ginger street urchin. At least…” She smirked, still digging through the box, “I assume that’s what she saw when she saw me.”

“Something like that,” Izzy admitted wryly, “but she’s not a part of my life now.”

“Aha!” Clary pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of a little tin that she’d found in the box. “See?” She handed it to Izzy, who was surprised to see that it was the letter she’d written Clary all those years ago. 

“I can’t believe you really kept it,” Izzy mumbled, her fingers brushing over the splotches where her tears had fallen almost ten years before. “I was heartbroken when Mom told us we were leaving, I begged her to let me stay.”

“I was heartbroken too,” Clary confessed. “I always hoped we’d see each other again, that… We might get a second chance.”

Izzy smiled up at her. “Well… I think that fate couldn’t have handed us a more obvious second chance if it tried.” 

“Does that mean you’ll ditch the welcome week clubs to go out for dinner with me?” Clary asked tentatively.

“I’d love to,” Izzy told her, reaching out to catch Clary’s hand in hers. “And this time I promise I won’t let anyone tear us apart.”


End file.
